by Eɴᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴇᴅ Elephants In The Indian Jungles After A Train Line Was Built To Cut Straight Through The Forest
These startling images show an elephant escaping when it was ʜɪᴛ in the beard by a train – as it crosses the tracks dangerously close to an oncoming train. The image, taken by wildlife photographer Rupak Dastidar, shows ᴇɴᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴇᴅ elephants in the Indian jungles after a train line was built to cut straight through the forest.
Dozens of elephants are ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ each year after being ʜɪᴛ by a train – which resulted in a speed limit being introduced for trains to save the elephants’ lives. An elephant crosses the train tracks in an Indian forest just moments after a train rushed along. A group of elephants in the Indian forest congregates around the tracks as the train approaches. An elephant calf follows its mother over the tracks in an Indian forest.
Rupak, 29, said: ‘The railway track turned out to be a graveyard for wild elephants with more than 90 of them being ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ since the conversion took place. The trails pass through a few national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and reserved forests that feature numerous corridors of wild animals such as the Indian Elephant and the Indian Gaur. The frequency of accidents along routes of Alipurduar and New Jalpaiguri lines has led forestry and railway officials to try to come up with a solution, cutting train speeds to 50km/h during the day and just 25 km/h at night.
The number of dead and ɪɴᴊᴜʀᴇᴅ elephants went down later that year, but despite the restrictions on trains continued to ᴋɪʟʟ elephants.
‘This photo illustrates the danger they face in their own home.’
Officials said two elephants were rammed and ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ by a passenger train late last year in eastern India. The animals’ carcasses were decorated with flowers before being cremated at the spot. According to wildlife officials, in the past five years, at least 26 elephants have been ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ and more ɪɴᴊᴜʀᴇᴅ by trains on a stretch of track near the Nepal border.
Elephant Interesting Facts
An elephant’s heart constitutes about 0.5% of the animal’s total body weight, so if an elephant weighs 10,000 lb, then the elephant’s heart would be expected to weigh 50 lb – if an elephant weighs 4500 kg, then that elephant’s heart may weigh 27 kg. The intestines of an elephant may be 19 meters in length, or more than 60 feet long. At 5 inches, or 12.7 centimeters long, elephants have the longest eyelashes in the world.
The brain of an elephant is larger than that of any other land mammal, weighing between 8 and 12 pounds, whereas a human’s brain weighs 3 pounds on average. The growth and development of an elephant’s brain is similar to that of a human’s. Both are born with small brain masses. Similar to a human being, there is considerable growth and development in the brain as a young elephant grows up. As the mass of the brain increases so does the learning ability of young elephants. Brain size provides a rough measure of mental flexibility; large mammalian brains are associated with superior intelligence and complex social behavior.
The elephant’s body has a number of special features because it is so large and heavy. The skull, parts of which are six inches thick, contains many air spaces making the inside appear something like a honeycomb or sponge. This adaptation has allowed the skull to grow to a large size without enormous weight. The legs of an elephant are in an almost vertical position under the body, like the legs on a table. This design provides strong support for the massive body and huge weight that the legs have to carry. It also allows elephants to sleep standing up without the risk of their legs buckling.
